ACLED Alternative

Recent Geolocated Events, Linked to Satellite Imagery

Not a replacement for ACLED — a complement. ACLED remains the reference for curated, human-coded conflict history. Off-Nadir Delta shows what was reported recently, how precisely it is placed, and whether a satellite could see it.

Open the Watchfloor API Reference

Quick answer — what Off-Nadir Delta is

ACLED’s free Open level gives aggregated data — events counted by administrative unit; event data comes with the Research level (lagged) or a Partner or Enterprise license, and the level is set by your organization’s email domain. Off-Nadir Delta does not replace ACLED’s curated, human-coded history. It complements it with recent events machine-read from global news media and official hazard feeds, each placed on a precision ladder, graded on the NATO scale, and checked for whether a satellite could see it. Its record starts 2026-09-23; browsing is free up to the previous day.

ACLED vs Off-Nadir Delta: which does what?

Facts last reviewed 2026-09-29.

Aspect	ACLED	Off-Nadir Delta
How events are coded	Collected by trained researchers from sources in over 75 languages; weekly coding and review	Machine-read by AI models from global news media and official hazard feeds; not human-coded
History	Historical; coverage periods vary by country, worldwide since 2022	Starts 2026-09-23. History window: Free 3 days, Starter 30 days, Pro/Team unlimited
Latency	Open: aggregated, real-time. Research: event data lagged. Partner/Enterprise: event data weekly	Up to the previous day free; today’s events on paid plans
Geoprecision	geo_precision 1–3; events imprecise to the country level are generally not recorded	reported / localized / pinpointed, with the reason it went no finer; country-level reports are kept as reported
Access	Level set by your organization’s email domain; generic email = Open; licenses via ACLED’s access team	Browse without an account; paid plans for today, longer history, and full event detail
API	Research level and above	Every plan, metered in tokens

ACLED cells are from ACLED’s myACLED FAQ, codebook, and methodology pages. Off-Nadir Delta also records, for each event, whether a satellite could see it, and opens Sentinel imagery over it on the map. Off-Nadir Delta is an independent project and is not affiliated with ACLED.

What each Off-Nadir Delta event carries

How precisely it is placed

Each event sits on a ladder: reported (country or province, or not placeable as a point), localized (town or city), pinpointed (street block or facility), with a stage_reason saying why it went no finer.

How its sources are graded

Articles are graded on the NATO (Admiralty) scale — source reliability A–F and information credibility 1–6, kept separate. The event also counts distinct outlets: that is breadth of reporting, not independent confirmation.

What changed

A change history records when casualty figures, attribution, targets, or place precision changed — so a revised figure is visible as a revision.

Whether a satellite could see it

Each event records whether it is placed finely enough for the size of what would show from orbit, and why not when it is not — the step from “something happened” to “can imagery check it”.

Where the summary came from

The latest article from each outlet is linked, with its title, so you can read the reporting behind the summary yourself.

API and SDK on every plan

GET /api/v1/signals and the Python SDK’s client.signals.list return the same events and the same plan rules as the app, metered in tokens.

Categories: Kinetic, Armed Conflict, Maritime, Natural Disaster, Infrastructure, Aviation, Humanitarian, Protest, Diplomacy, Other. Free browsing filters by category only; search, stage, severity, outlet-count, and location filters are on paid plans. The summary, stage, severity, breadth of reporting, casualty counts, and change history (with values for the latest change) are free; the reported facts, every source, the collection reasoning, and relations to other events are on paid plans.

Use ACLED for

Curated, human-coded political violence and protest data; trends over years; research that needs a consistent, reviewed methodology and a citable dataset.

Use Off-Nadir Delta for

What was reported in the last days, where exactly, how well sourced, and whether open satellite imagery can check it — including earthquakes and volcanic ash, which fall outside ACLED’s event types (political violence, demonstrations, strategic developments).

Frequently Asked Questions

What changed about free access to ACLED data?▼

ACLED moved to myACLED access levels: Open, Research, Partner, and Enterprise. According to the myACLED FAQ, the level is set by the organization you are associated with, through your email domain; a generic address such as gmail.com gets public (Open) access. Open gives aggregated data — the number and type of events grouped by administrative unit. Research adds event data with a time lag, Partner gets disaggregated event data weekly, and Enterprise gets unlimited event data (weekly, expedited). ACLED’s API is listed from the Research level up. For a license or a different level, the FAQ points you to ACLED’s access team.

Is Off-Nadir Delta a replacement for ACLED?▼

No. ACLED is collected by trained researchers and reviewed weekly, and it covers years of history — it remains the reference for curated, human-coded conflict data and for historical analysis. Off-Nadir Delta’s event record starts on 2026-09-23 and is machine-read, not human-coded. What it adds is recent, geolocated events connected to satellite imagery: how precisely each event is placed, how its sources are graded, and whether a satellite could see it.

Where do Off-Nadir Delta’s events come from?▼

From global news media plus official hazard feeds — USGS significant earthquakes and volcanic-ash SIGMETs from the NOAA Aviation Weather Center. Articles are read by AI models, graded, placed, and folded into events. No analyst codes each event by hand, so treat an event as a report to check, not a verified record.

Is it free?▼

Browsing the Watchfloor is free and needs no account: it shows events up to the end of the previous day, filtered by category. Today’s events, longer history, the other filters, and the event detail beyond the summary (reported facts, every source, the collection reasoning, relations to other events) are on paid plans. The history window is 3 days on Free, 30 days on Starter, and unlimited on Pro and Team. See the pricing page for current details.

Can I get the events through an API?▼

Yes, on every plan. GET /api/v1/signals returns events with cursor pagination, and the Python SDK wraps it as client.signals.list. Requests are metered in tokens, and the same plan rules as the app apply: anything your plan does not open is withheld and named in plan_lock, so a missing value is not mistaken for an unknown one.

Can I use both?▼

Yes — that is the intended fit. Use ACLED for curated conflict trends and history, and use Off-Nadir Delta to see what was reported recently, where exactly, and whether open satellite imagery can check it. If you publish results that use ACLED data, ACLED’s FAQ says you must state that you used it; its Attribution Policy explains how.